


Regretted Decisions

by Melanie_March



Category: Mystery Skulls Animated
Genre: Arthur almost drowns, Gen, Ghost Lewis - Freeform, Heavy Angst, Hellbent, Prompt Based, Short but sad, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-19
Updated: 2018-10-19
Packaged: 2019-08-04 13:41:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16347785
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melanie_March/pseuds/Melanie_March
Summary: A very short, prompt-based scene following the end of Mystery Skulls Animated's third chapter, "Hellbent", in which Lewis immediately regrets his decision, and he and Arthur have a chat about the past.





	Regretted Decisions

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to tumblr user mirasorastone for breaking my heart when sending me a Hellbent prompt. The poison was picked, friend.

_Vivi.  
_  
The name lingered in his mind, weighty and familiar.  
  
 ** _Vivi._  
  
** Oh god, he’d left her. He’d left her all alone to deal with that horrible shrub-like monster. He had to save her, had to--

**_VIVI.  
  
_**

Her name echoed in his mind, drowning out his own rational thoughts. He couldn’t breathe, couldn’t speak. All he wanted to do was save her from death. He couldn’t lose her, too.

Arthur surfaced from beneath the freezing water, gasping for air and clawing blindly in front of him for a purchase. Every splash echoed around him, every cough and gasp rang in his ears. He felt the back of his shirt being bunched up in someone’s hands, and then he was hauled onto hard rock.

Scrubbing the water from his eyes, he looked into the face of his savior, garbled thanks ready on his tongue, only to see a pair of eyes that haunted him in his nightmares. “L-Lew--” he spluttered, scrambling back as another fit of coughs wracked his body. “Lewis!”

“Stand up.” Growled the ghostly figure of his former friend. “I didn’t save you so that you could cower.” Glowing pink eyes glanced away from his own, and Lewis’ brows knitted together in frustration.

Arthur hurried to stand on his legs, shaky though they were from almost drowning. “Why did you-- why are you--”

“I don’t have time for your questions, and I don’t feel particularly inclined to give you answers, either. This is for Vivi, _not_ for you.”

That was understandable. Arthur followed behind Lewis’ hulking figure as they exited the cave in which he had done the unthinkable. Even if Lewis had been willing to talk, everything Arthur could have said would have sounded like an excuse.

“Oh god, _Vivi_ !” Gasped the blonde suddenly, gripping his soaked hair.  “She’s still with that _thing_ ! It’s gonna kill her!”

“Mystery is with her.” Eyes narrowing at the flippant answer he received, Arthur reached out boldly and grabbed Lewis by a bony shoulder, spinning him around.

“What’s a _dog_ going to do?!” He cried, though his core screamed in protest as Lewis glared menacingly at him. “We ran into it, and it wasn’t even phased. Not a scratch! Mystery’s gonna be next, for all we know, and I--”

He withdrew, arm crossing over his body to grip his now broken and waterlogged mechanical one. “I couldn’t save her.” He mumbled bitterly.

“Since when have you cared about saving anyone, Arthur?” Lewis asked angrily. He poked Arthur’s chest with a finger. “ _You_ couldn’t even be bothered to stop yourself from hurting your friends.”

“That wasn’t me!”

“Save it!”

“No, Lewis, please listen--” Lewis’ skeleton hands slammed down into the rock on either side of Arthur’s head, sending chunks of dirt showering down over them.

“I said save it.” He snarled, face inches from the other male’s. “I don’t want to hear anything else about the day you took everything from me. No excuse will change what you’ve done.”

“Lewis…” Arthur waved the dust from his face. “I’m sorry.”

“I don’t want your _apologies_ , Arthur! I want my life back!” Rearing back, Lewis’ hand balled into a fist, but seeing how Arthur curled into himself to protect from the blow, he let it drop to his side. “You’re a coward, a traitor. I should have let you drown, and spend an eternity in my shoes.”

“Then why didn’t you?” Arthur asked, though he was visibly trembling at the thought of what Lewis could do to him.

“Because I’m not like you.”

The words bit deeper into Arthur’s skin than the bitter cold he’d endured under the water. Possessed or not, unaware or not, in the end, he’d killed his best friend. He’d caused it all, from the heartache in the three of them to the nights spent sleeplessly transporting them from one town to the next while he avoided his own fears.

And confronted with the ghosts of his past (literally), Arthur couldn’t run away anymore. He swallowed hard, blinking back tears. “I’m _sorry,_ Lewis.”

The emotion behind his voice caused Lewis to recoil with a snort. “Well… sorry doesn’t fix everything, does it?” He ground out, before turning away from Arthur. “Keep up, or I’ll leave you behind.”

Arthur forlornly trailed after him, not knowing what else to do. In the end, it wasn’t about him and Lewis. He was alive because of Vivi. They were here because of _Vivi._ And he would do whatever he could, even trade his life for hers, to keep from losing someone else close to him.

His regrets kept him chained to her, and to Mystery, and now to Lewis. But oddly enough, he found comfort in it. At least this way, he would spend his life making up for his sins.


End file.
